Part 29 (2/2)
”Concerned he is that Kothlis and Bothawui offended will be by our withdrawal of protection, ” he said. ”To Dooku he thinks they might turn if abandoned by us they consider themselves. ”
”He's worrying for no reason, ” Mace Windu said flatly. ”Kothlis and Bothawui will never leave the Republic. Yoda, he's going to have to accept the Council's decision. I'll leave enough clones here to satisfy the Ruling Council's need for security. Tell Yularen that Dagger and I will rendezvous with him at the battle group's pre-approach coordinates. ”
Soberly the other Councilors nodded their support, then disconnected from the holoconference. In the end only Mace remained, his image gently flickering.
”You're not happy about this, ” he said. ”Do you know something I don't?”
Yoda let his chin sink to his chest. ”Usurped Palpatine will feel, when told of our decision he is. ”
”That's too had, ” said Mace, shrugging. ”Palpatine's wrong. Durd's our greatest danger now. It's not enough for us to hope that Obi-Wan and young Skywalker can pull off a miracle on Lantech. They need our help-or Chandrila will only be the beginning. ”
Yoda sighed. ”This I know. But this also I know-a wedge between the Jedi and the Supreme Chancellor will this unfortunate business drive. ”
”Politicians don't tell the Jedi what to do. Master Yoda. And smart politicians take our advice even if they don't always understand our reasons. That's how it's worked for a thousand years and for a thousand years it's worked just fine. ” Mace snorted. ”Palpatine should he more worried about offending us than Kothlis. We're the ones keeping the Republic together. ”
And that was true, too, though he wouldn't phrase it quite that way to the Supreme Chancellor. ”Go to see him now, I will. Contact me when approaching your rendezvous with the battle group you are. ”
123.
”Shall do, ” said Mace, and disconnected their link.
Filled with a weary unease, Yoda stared at the cityscape for a moment, then withdrew from the Council Chamber so he could make his preparations to meet with the Republic's Supreme Chancellor.
And may the Force be with me, for pleased by this news he will not he.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
The latest droid bombardment had started just after dawn, and nearly ten hours later it showed no sign of stopping.
Covered in hydraulic fluids and scattered singe marks, smeared with sweat and dirt and blood, Anakin stood before Torbel's laboring storm s.h.i.+eld, raised his fists at Durd s relentless army and vented fear and fury in one long, soundless scream.
You stinking barves! You can keep on firing until Lanteeb's sun goes supernova! We are never going to let you in!
Panting, he turned away from the merciless machines and struggled to recover his precarious balance.
It was nearly five days since he'd had a decent stretch of sleep, or a full meal, or anything approaching enough water to drink. The village was on strict rationing, every single mouthful accounted for. Rikkard and Jaklin had even discussed the slaughter of their poultry and milk cows. It hadn't come to that yet, but it would if help didn't reach them soon. And there'd been no word from the Jedi Temple. No hint of any kind that this wasn't a battle they were fighting on their own.
Every time he looked up, it seemed, another s.h.i.+pment of ammunition was arriving for the droids to pour against Torbel's flimsy s.h.i.+eld.
Since the start of the siege, their number had swelled from three hundred units to more than four hundred. There were no sentient soldiers in this army. Durd wasn't risking a single man. The barve didn't have to. He could sit in his compound and watch his a.s.sault via holoremote, surrounded by luxury, convinced the victory was already his.
Light-headed with weariness, Anakin shoved his microspanner back into his tool belt.
And maybe it is. Was I wrong to push us into this? Have I condemned every last one of us to a swift and brutal slaughter? Or will we die of starvation and sickness first?
He'd never felt so afraid in his life.
Every waking moment was spent slaving over the power plant and the storm-s.h.i.+eld generators, checking and rechecking the s.h.i.+eld's perimeter, patching and tinkering and pulling miracles out of thin air to keep the old and overworked equipment from disintegrating into smoking slag. His modifications had worked, but the price was ferocious. They were burning through the stockpiled liquid damot.i.te so quickly, burning through circuitry and wiring and stripped-out spare parts just as fast. And everyone was looking to him for the answers, expecting him to keep the miracle going.
I don't know how much longer I can keep on doing this.
The day was dying, the last of the light draining out of the sky. But that didn't matter. The constant barrage of plasma and blasterfire hitting the s.h.i.+eld turned night to day. It was as bright here after sundown as it was on Coruscant.
The thought of home pierced his guts, a sharp s.h.i.+v of memory. By now Padme had to know that he and Obi-Wan were trapped on this mess of a planet. Yoda would've told Bail Organa and Organa would certainly tell her-or she'd rip the news out of him. She had to be sick with terror for him. A couple of times he'd risked trying to feel her in the Force, tried to see where she was, how she was, but he was simply too tired. All his strength was being poured into keeping Torbel and its people alive. He had nothing left. Nothing to give her.
Oh, my dearest love. Can you forgive me for putting you through this? I'll make it up to you, I promise. When I come home.
Blat... blat.. boom... blat... boom... boom... boom...
The storm s.h.i.+eld couldn't m.u.f.fle all the bombardment's noise. The constant dull impacts hammered at everyone trapped in the village, keeping headaches simmering just below the surface. Tempers were short, fights erupting at the least provocation. Rikkard and Jaklin 124 had confiscated every last weapon and anything that could be used as a weapon if it wasn't needed to keep them alive. Teeba Sufi didn't need any more casualties. She had enough on her plate, with the sick house full and the charter house turned into a second ward.
His jaw clenched tight, Anakin watched the blooms and blossoms of superheated blaster plasma drip down the storm s.h.i.+eld. Surely the Seps had to run out of ammunition soon.
A crackle in his pocket, then Devi's faint voice sounded over his comlink. ”Anakin? Do you copy?”
He pulled out the comlink and thumbed the transmit switch. ”What's up?”
” Where are you? ”
He was so tired he had to think about it. ”I've just checked Generator Ten. Why?”
”I need help here. ”
”Can't you ask Rikkard? I've still got...”
”Rikkard's dropped. He's greensick. I'm on my own and I've got a blocked fuel valve. I'II have a red needle in minutes. ”
Stang. She sounded desperate. And if he lost Devi... ”Fine, ” he said, eyes closed, head pounding. ”I'll be right there. ” With a final look at the droids, he started back toward the plant. ”Devi, can you comm Tarnik? Get him to check the other generators? They should be holding but...”
”I've tried. I can't raise him. ”
”Then try again! Devi, the generators have to be kept under constant surveillance. If even one fails...”
”I know!” Devi shouted back. ”I'll try. You just get here. Hurry!”
Shoving the comlink into his pocket he broke into a shuffling jog, which was the closest he could come to running right now. The light was fading faster, Lanteeb's sun lost behind the hills that stood between the village and the open country. If the droids would only stop firing, he'd he able to see the night sky's first, faint stars.
I don't care if I never see stars again as long as I live. Please, please, let that s.h.i.+eld hold.
He jogged past the silenced mine and the burned-out hulk of the refinery, still stinking, past the groundcar graveyard and on to the plant. There he unstuck the blocked fuel valve, coaxed another eight valves into running a little more smoothly, answered a spate of questions from Tarnik, who'd been grumpily roused from sleep, helped Devi recalibrate the four main s.h.i.+eld monitors, and then, last of all, double-checked the plant's fuel gauge for accuracy.
”So I'm not imagining things, ” said Devi, seeing his dismay. ”Our usage has gone up another two percent. ”
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